School Report

Three weeks in and Rosemary has already been too sick for school (but not too sick for the playground) two times. Today is one of those times. I take this as a sign of meeting new bugs after a summer of being mostly outdoors, plus me not wanting to press her into going there in these first few weeks, even when she is probably okay to go.

I know. Softy.

It's been fun deducing what they do there by the limited pieces of info we get. Sometimes the toddler snippets are later explained by teacher's daily reports. The other day they explored primary and secondary colors by setting up the kids in pairs with single colors to paint with. Rosemary was working on an easel with another kid (she had yellow, he had blue), and when she ran out to meet me after school she said, "I MADE GREEEEEEN!" I asked her how and she said, more quietly, "I don't know." Her teacher said she and her easel mate got really excited about it, but didn't quite understand how it happened. Then the teacher read Little Yellow and Little Blue, the old Leo Lionni classic. I really love this school so far.

The other day she got Jason, my mom and dad, and I to line up before going outside.

Last Wednesday, she flashed me the two-fingered peace sign and said "That means peace, mom." They apparently do this when they go to the park - to focus attention, I guess. I actually recall doing this at my first grade school. Also, she told me one day "I put you in a box, Mommy," which sounded alarming but yesterday the school sent the lyrics to some of the songs they sing, including:

Oh I wish I had,

A little Red Box, (make box shape with hands)

To put my Mommy in.

I’d take her out,

Go mwah, mwah, mwah (kiss tips of fingers)

And put her back again.

Actually, it still sounds alarming.

An aside: a few times yesterday when I asked her to repeat something I didn't understand, she said, "I can't. That was a one-time story."

Channeling Brett

These glasses continue to be A-list prop around here. Does she remind you of any B-list celebrity?

Weekend of Antics

We are winding down from a wonderful weekend visit from my parents. It was sort of culinary whirlwind culminating in last night's dinner with Jason's parents at Gramercy Tavern (aka "fancy restaurant") where Rosemary behaved incredibly well. Everyone who works there was unbelievably lovely and normal about having a toddler around, and while our super friendly waiter seemed somewhat taken aback when Rosemary told him (some time after he'd brought dessert around), "I'm going to use the potty. I'm not done with my dessert. I'm just taking a break," he rallied pretty quickly.

Jason and Rosemary, matched in pink, on their way to said fancy restaurant:

Wait, did I say it culminated in Gramercy Tavern? There was also the Atlantic Antic today. Best street fair on the planet. It runs along Atlantic Ave, near our house, from Hicks ten blocks down to 4th Avenue. In that span we ate: spinach feta pie, salt cod fritter, salty French fries, Vietnamese tofu sandwich, a second salt cod fritter from a totally different place, Six Points beer, actual sarsparilla, Mexican horchata. And that's not even counting what my parents ate. Lesson of the day: if it is fried, our daughter will eat it. (If it is a Vietnamese tofu sandwich, she will not.)

Leading Questions

R, pointing at counter: What's that?
Me: What's what?
R: That, up there. The shiny things.
Me: Oh, those are your big coins (Two giant plastic dimes are on counter.)
R: No. The squares. The little squares to eat. [Pauses.] Chocolate?
Me: Yes, chocolate. (They are delicious Fiddle Fern Fudge, brought home from the Berkshires
R, all innocent: For me?

Kid Logics

Yesterday Rosemary baffled me by asking for "hamster crackers." She explained she'd had them "yesterday...one week ago...with some O's" and then I finally realized what she was after was oyster crackers.

Also: the other day I was packing up some old clothes and came upon some underpants my parents gave her at last Christmas. Six pairs of the cutest undees you've ever seen (owls, peace signs, puffy clouds), all tucked away during the summer of potty training after a wise neighborhood mom friend suggested using the old-school thicker training underwear. I asked Rosemary to try on the owl undees and she said, "NOOOOOO!" and backed away like she was a vampire and I had a fistful of garlic. I asked her why and she calmly said, "Those are my winter underpants."

Duh, mama.

In other news, school's going well. This morning (her second full day) she basically ditched me in the coatroom. I was left trying to kiss her cheek as she turned to head into class with a teacher. Right on. I think each day's a little different, especially as these first-timers start to figure out this is an ongoing event. The other day after I explained R had two more days of school that week, she said to me, "And then that's it?" But I think she likes it and likes explaining to me how things are done.

This morning she reiterated to me that, on the topic of the TV show Yo Gabba Gabba (often my morning crutch so I can get her to sit still while I put hair into ponytails, etc.) she is "pretty much over this." I asked why and she said, "Because I'm bigger." For now she's into "The Red Balloon" instead. I watched this many times as a kid, and recalled it as being 100% bo-ring. (Actually, I think it was something they made us watch on substitute teacher days? Was this ubiquitous or just Candalaria Elementary School?) Anyhow, now it's quite charming. 1950s Paris, how could it not be? We've got an old red balloon here and she likes to sit it down beside her as she watches.

What the What?

We've spent an inordinate amount of time this summer talking about lightening and thunder. Or maybe disproportionate is the word, since we've had relatively few storms but Rosemary brings them up often. They are clearly linked, in her mind, with fireworks, which interest her in theory but scare her in reality. Thunder and lightening seem to scare her in theory but just interest her in reality. She never seems too freaked out when we actually have one.

This is a good thing, since yesterday we had a doozy. Lucky us, we were safe at home. Just barely, since we had walked in the door a minute before. The sky turned green -- really green and really dark -- and the rain came down in a terrific whoosh. Then the rain started going up - FAST - and leaves were swirling, and then everything just went to white. There was just so much rain and wind that we couldn't see a thing out the window except a few leaves swirling by. And we have two huge windows in our living room with quite a wide view. This

was when it occurred to me it might be wise to back away from our huge windows. I half expected to see a cow fly by.

At the time, I turned to my friend Lauren, who was over, and said, "Is this a tornado?" thinking, yes, that must be what it was. Bijs, Lauren's daughter, and Rosemary, were running around talking about thunder and lightening and rain, but they seemed jazzed more than freaked out. According to WNYC the National Weather Service is sending a meteorologist today to determine whether it was a tornado or not. It's probably more than just one guy -- most likely a crack team -- but I love the idea that there is just this one dude who turns up and divines what exactly it was.

Update: It was a tornado. Actually, two tornadoes and something called a macroburst. And looking back at my pictures I just remembered what kept Rosemary and Bijs busy during the storm: wobbling around on super-sized, wrong-foot galoshes.

It begins!

First day of preschool, to which Rosemary said she wanted "to wear my ballerina tutu with a pink shirt that matches my ballerina tutu." She consented to wearing a different twirly skirt instead.

Father-daughter backpacks:

Full report on school to come later. Jason and I both went there to meet her teachers, who are lovely, and see the school, which is brand new. There are just 6 kids in her class: 5 boys + Rosemary! Hopefully she can lure a few of them to hang out with her in the play kitchen, since dollars to doughnuts that is where she will want to spend her time. Her class will also spend quite a bit of time with the bigger, ever-so-slightly older class next door, which has more girls.